Speaking with Variety, Jackman revealed he had been considered to replace Pierce Brosnan, who starred as 007 in four films, from 1995 to 2002.

“I was about to do X-Men 2 and a call came from my agent asking if I’d be interested in Bond,” Jackman recalled. “I just felt at the time that the scripts had become so unbelievable and crazy, and I felt like they needed to become grittier and real. And the response was, ‘Oh, you don’t get a say. You just have to sign on.’ I was also worried that between Bond and X-Men, I’d never have time to do different things.”

Of course, the Bond franchise did eventually go down the grittier path Jackman envisioned when Daniel Craig succeed Brosnan with 2006’s Casino Royale. Jackman instead went on to portray Wolverine in eight more X-Men films, and capped off his 17 years as the character with 2017’s Logan.

Craig will reprise his role as Bond for Bond 25, targeted for release on Nov. 8, 2019.